Downtown Women's Center provides nurturing atmosphere

Structure is the secret for program's success

Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Bruce Beckbruce.beck@amarillo.com

It's no secret that substance abuse destroys families. It's also the No. 1 reason for homelessness, prison terms and hospital visits, said Diann Gilmore, executive director of the Downtown Women's Center, which works to break the cycle of homelessness through substance abuse recovery.

The DWC, 409 S. Monroe St., "provides a structured and safe environment for women in recovery and their children," said Donna Soria, director of development.

The women who come to the Downtown Women's Center - Haven House and Abba House - are looking for a safe place to fight their chemical demons and they find it, Gilmore, said.

"We throw in spirituality and knowledge of addiction," she said.

Haven House is for those women who are new in recovery. They live dormitory style, their lives are structured and they are required to attend a total of seven Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and counseling meetings every week. Haven House is staffed 24 hours a day, and the doors are locked between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. When DWC staff believe the resident is ready for more responsibility over her life, she can transition to Abba House, where only three weekly meetings are required and the doors are locked daily at 11 p.m. and midnight on weekends. The women strictly monitor themselves for any behaviors that are a threat to their recovery. They have their own kitchens and do their own cooking.

Most importantly, they are reunited with their children on weekends.

Michelle, a resident of Abba House, said the facility allows her and her 10-year-old daughter "to be a family again - something we haven't been able to be for a long time."

"My daughter likes the fact that we can cook again. Before (recovery) I hardly got out of bed," Michelle said. "She was on her own."

Michelle said her time at Abba House isn't her first attempt at recovery, but in her previous attempts she neglected to use the program to its fullest.

"I didn't work the support system," she said. "(The DWC staff) makes it easier to ask for help."

Through counseling and meetings, Michelle said she realizes addiction "is a disease you can't get rid of and they are teaching us to make (recovery) a part of our life. I have a life because of recovery."

"(Addiction) can be in remission, but it's with you for the rest of your life," she said.

Penny realized she couldn't kick her addiction almost six months ago "when I pretty much lost everyone in my life. Everyone I loved I drove away from substance abuse, lying, manipulating, doing whatever I had to do to support my habit and get through my day. It was a major accomplishment to live one more day."

More than a month in a Lubbock in-patient treatment facility "was the beginning of my new life. The Lord gave me my spirit back."

But leaving the facility left her "really, really scared."

"I knew if I went back home I'd be back in the same position," she said. "One counselor told me about Haven House. I was at Haven House four months and was able to graduate to Abba House."

The positive environment - "so much love and support, it's wonderful" - at the Downtown Women's Center "makes it almost impossible to fail," Penny said.

Since 2001, when Gilmore helped found the DWC, 81 percent of the women who have completed the program were still clean and sober a year after leaving the Downtown Women's Center, Soria said.

"And for the last fiscal year, 100 percent who've left are clean and sober," Gilmore said. "These women are survivors."